


A Very Haikyuu Tale

by TheBrokaryotes



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fairy Tales, Magical Creatures, Multi, Royalty AU, more tags to be added later tbh, prince!Oikawa, there are some OCs, there is magic, writing this was an adventure honestly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-03-31
Packaged: 2018-03-16 21:30:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3503438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBrokaryotes/pseuds/TheBrokaryotes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Once upon a time, there was a boy with hair as black as the night sky. Once upon a time, there was a boy with hair as soft as the summer wind." </p><p>The tale of two people who's paths align, and cross with many others. </p><p>The adventure of a prince and his new-found companion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there, dear reader! :) 
> 
> I don't really have much to say, except that I don't exactly have a schedule for updating on these things...meep.
> 
> But nevertheless, I hope you enjoy reading this and love Haikyuu as much as I do! 
> 
> Seriously, these nerds are a-dork-able.

Once upon a time, there was a boy with hair as black as the night sky and eyes as sharp as the jagged rocks at the bottom of a precipice. Despite his calm demeanor and face that gave away nothing, he dreamt like a prince. He treasured thoughts of adventure, and kept close to his heart the prospect of travel. The boy who wished so very hard for these pure, pure aspirations to become reality- alas, he was not a prince. He was but a poor villager boy, who passed time by idly watching the bugs flit around and his dreams were simply that. However, the boy would do the next best thing surely. If he couldn’t be a prince, then he would have to live alongside the prince, right? And, to his naive young mind, that was the solution all laid out black-and-white. The crow-haired boy worked and worked from then on out. He worked well into his late teen ages, and grew. He grew and soon was no longer the scrawny little boy who had wanted to adventure to foreign places and visit the unknown. With his own hands, the boy would shape his destiny and live the life he wanted to. 

He could have. He could have made it so far. He was so close to freedom. But a single split second was all it took to snatch the foundation right from under the tower of blood and sweat he had shed. As all tragedies happen, it only took a split second for his world to come crumbling down around him. 

It was a sunny evening, rather peaceful in fact- except for the usual hustle bustle of the town. Iwaizumi Hajime, the sharp eyed child who had toiled day after day chasing after menial labor, had recently acquired a house in said town with his younger sister. He had become a young man at long last. He genuinely thanked his lucky stars that morning- who would have thought that a mere month after their parents had died that they would be able to provide for themselves and recover so quickly. It had almost been surreal, that day. Iwaizumi shivered, suppressing the terrible memory, and glanced at his beloved younger sister. He smiled softly at the familiar feathery smile she donned. His sister, albeit only a few years younger than him, was his pride and joy. She was a shy yet intelligent creature, who had been adopted into their family. They didn’t know much of her origins, but that didn’t bother Iwaizumi even minisculely; all he cared was that she was alive and well. Blood related or not, they were still family. 

Iwaizumi was the type of young man who would sacrifice anything, even his dreams for his family. 

The rest of the day was seemingly not unusual in the slightest. The siblings locked their bakery up, and set out to the bazaar for necessities or something- Iwaizumi couldn’t remember. Iwaizumi would berate himself time and time later for not noticing the extra mercenaries that were stationed around the bazaar. There were usually only a handful of the King’s Royal Army who were around the plaza and bazaar most days. He didn’t take this slight influx of people into consideration as the duo pushed through the usual crowds of people. Iwaizumi sister had spotted some stellar deal on eggplant- or was it beetroot? It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. It was all minor details of the fact. 

The fact that it only took a split second for his sister to bend over, reaching for the vegetable. It only took a split second for someone to scream _“thief!”_ , the taboo words to the official figures stationed there. It only took a split second for Iwaizumi to assume the position of his sister, pushing her out of harm’s way. In this instant in time, the mercenaries had took action, already hooking Iwaizumi under both his arms. His eyebrows furrowed harshly, the world becoming a blur as he struggled fiercely. He yelled out, 

_“I am, and have only ever been an honest man!”_

A sharp pain to the back of his head, and then black spots scourged his vision relentlessly. He couldn’t tell if the scream he heard was from himself or from his sister. The last thing Iwaizumi saw was his sister’s face, her beautiful auburn eyes crying for him. Her dainty precious arms were outstretched, as if she could grasp her brother once more. The name slipped from his mouth almost subconsciously: _Yui._ The cold embrace of nothingness finally overcame him.

Iwaizumi didn’t dream that night. 

He wished he were only dreaming when he woke up to death row. 

~~~

Once upon a time, there was a boy with hair as soft as the summer wind. He had sunkissed brown eyes, and a smile that could melt any woman’s heart. Oikawa Tooru was a prince, born into royalty. The prized second son of the King and Queen- oh, what manners he had! Such a diplomatic disposition he was already accustomed to. He was the envy of all the noblemen, and the object of desire to all noblewomen. What more could a fairy tale-esque being like himself want? What could the boy, who had practically _everything_ , want? 

Freedom. 

He could remember his first distinct memory as clear as a cloudless day’s sky. It wasn’t fuzzy, or nostalgic like others’ would be. It was sharp, cutting through his mind with the keenness of a razor. It was his older brother’s inauguration as an official royal member of the Oikawa family. It was a family tradition, after all- not only was it enough to be related by blood, but _of course_ they had to have a ceremony to symbolize their power. The little brown headed boy, with his ruffled hair, had been sternly told by his mother to put on his proper face. The little toddler had wondered what that meant. A proper face? Didn’t he already have a good-looking face? He had wracked his brains trying to think. All the maids always cooed over him, calling him “handsome” and singing other praises in his ear. 

The boy soon learned what putting on a proper face meant. Being a prince wasn’t at all like what the fairy tales he had adored so as a child had promised. Being a prince meant he had to follow standards, and rules. These iron-clad rules cemented bars around the young one’s spirit, caging the normal excitement and curiosity that children always harbored. Instead, he always put on a face like his mother had told him. Soon, that expression he had forced himself to don day after day came naturally, like water cascading down a waterfall. His outer personality became as plastic as the nobility he had to satisfy, burying the child inside of him. 

The child that he once was. 

And so, the prince was forced to grow up at a young age. He was forced to face his reality, and adapt to it. The staple mask Oikawa had been accustomed to wearing became his power and his handicap. Another one of his memories had clearly depicted this. A few years after the inauguration of the royal family’s first son, the queen bore another child. The third son, a bright faced child with auburn hair and a smile that reached for the moon. Oikawa remembered that brief time period of his life. The shock of a creature that wore his heart on his sleeve, showing emotions so vividly, so _openly_ , had touched the iron bars around the prince’s spirit and maybe had even loosened them a bit. The bit of sunlight had touched Oikawa in a way that he never experienced before. 

But, as fast as light is shined, it disappears again. The beloved little brother of Oikawa had died only a few months after of a rare childhood illness. He remembers the funeral well. It was the first time he saw his mother cry, and it was the first time he saw his brother shake like that. It was the first time he saw an emotion on his father’s face other than the elegant demeanor he displayed every day. 

He couldn’t describe what he felt. No tears flowed down his face, no trembling wracked his body. Only the mask remained. A mask with no emotion, almost lifeless, showing no signs of weakness or even strength. It was almost as if he were an empty husk of himself, as if he were watching the whole ordeal as an outsider. Then he could distinguish a clear feeling, almost knocking him off his feet: he was _appalled_. He was absolutely appalled at himself. How terrible was he, for not being able to show even an ounce of remorse for his brother? How could he not bring himself to display even a slight sign of emotion? 

Oikawa had no answer. He simply didn’t know.

_BUMP!_

The jostle of the horse-drawn carriage seemed to bring him back to reality. The scent of freshly baked bread, and spiced hit him. Soon after, the musty smell of dirt roads and dust came to his senses. It was the trademark aroma of civilization. He shifted in his seat, next to his father. His father, the king, a matching stoic expression only marred by wrinkles, was on his face. The wrinkles, Oikawa could tell, held many many stories behind them. 

They had just come back from a diplomatic expedition to the neighboring kingdom of Nekoma, and were passing by a no-name town to get back to their castle. Oikawa reveled in the hustle and bustle of the town that he could hear from inside the carriage. The guards that traveled behind and in front of them had no trouble getting the townspeople to spread apart to make room for the royal family. He could hear the shouts from the outside, hailing the royal family. 

“Praise our generous ruler!” 

“Our righteous king and queen! Our majestys!” 

The queen chuckled at the townspeople, clearly showing her affection for the endearing mannerisms of the civilians. She gently shook the king’s forearm, catching Oikawa’s attention. Whispering something in his ear, he ever-so-slightly nodded. The king orders the royal coachman to halt the carriage. Oikawa hears the whiny neigh of the horse and soon they are out of the carriage, surrounded by guards. 

The royal family soon recuperates at a hut that one of the townspeople has graciously provided. Oikawa does not have to ask his mother why they stopped here. He can assume that they did not want to be traveling on the road that night, for it was a very auspicious night- especially to the Oikawa family. The brown haired young man padded to the room that was set aside for himself, and let the night stars shine on his face, closing his eyes as if he were bathing in the luminescence of the stars. He slowly lifted his eyelids, only to see three consecutive comets burst across the sky in a grand spectacle for the world to witness. _Three Comets of the Sun_ , the event they had stayed to witness had played itself out before his very own eyes. He smiled to himself, ironic as he did not feel any reason to in that moment. 

He whispered, “You’re eighteen now, Tooru.” He didn’t feel any different. He was the same old prince, leading the same old life. And like that, he turned in for the night, the twinkling stars watching over him as he slept. 

The next morning, he awoke to sunlight and loud noises seemingly from a crowd outside. It seemed that the day started early in the town just like it did in his castle. Oikawa lithely got up and brushed the tired away from his eyes. After washing his face from a small, mildew-laced well behind the hut, he put on a cloak to cover his hair and his face partially. The king and queen were still asleep presumably, and it would not hurt to see what the commotion was that was being made outside. He padded to the entrance of the little hut they had taken to, and his senses were immediately thrown into the hectic sensation that was the town. 

He smoothly glided into the central part of town, where the bulk of the crowd was. They were surrounding something, some sort of podium. Then it clicked; the townspeople were surrounding the _gallows_. Oikawa was witnessing an execution right now. His blood ran cold as he strained his legs to see who all were on death row. There was only one person standing there, his hands bound. From what Oikawa could see, the man was dark haired and rather disheveled. Right next to man was the executor, donned in the typical black robes, giving him the atmosphere of being some sort of _grim reaper_. There was another man there, who had a beady look to his eyes that Oikawa did not particularly trust. 

The man with the beady eyes yelled out, “Will anyone save this man? Will anyone save this lowly thief, for the price of eighty gold pieces?” Silence, uncharacteristic silence, was what met the man’s words. That many gold pieces? Oikawa would be surprised if any of these civilians in this small town had even seen that much gold in their lifetime. 

The man turned towards the executor and gave a small nod. The thief was then grabbed by his collar, and moved closer towards the unforgiving gnarled rope in front of him. What caught Oikawa’s attention wasn’t the lack of resisting that the man made, but the emotion in his eyes. Rather than showing signs of resignation, the thief had a sharp look to his eyes, never wavering once even when he was less than a foot away from the noose that meant the difference between life and death. His solid fortitude was almost a silent slap to the face of those who were sentencing him to death, as if he meant to die on his own terms even then. Even after he was quite literally facing his demise right then and there. Oikawa felt a sense of familiarity in that expression he wore. He slowly reached into his pocket, and pulled out a bag, and calmly raised it above his head. 

“Eighty gold pieces!” 

The entirety of the people there seemed to turn to the source of the voice in unison. He felt the multitude of gazes burning through his body, but there was only one that seemed to pierce him the most. The thief had turned towards him, staring. There was no gratitude in his demeanor, only confusion. Oikawa could have chuckled at the very open yet somehow seemingly _brash_ nature of the man. 

Instead, the townspeople quietly parted for him, almost automatically. He strode towards the gallows, placing the bag in the hand of the beady-eyed man without a second thought, whose mouth was agape like most of the audience watching. Oikawa was now face to face with the man who was seconds away from death. He could see him more clearly now, the spiky dark hair and the tanned skin from years of exposure to the sun. He could see the almost intriguing years of labor that the man had clearly faced. Oikawa did something he never thought he would have done in a million years: he took the hand of the man and smiled. It was as if the mask he had built for all those years hadn’t been broken, but had simply been put away to make way for this genuine smile that lit up his face. The surprise was painfully apparent on the other man’s face. 

The last thing Oikawa saw when he turned around was his parents, the looks of shock on and distaste evident. Their son had just affiliated with a _thief_ , someone that they had barely known, and he had taken his hands in front of an entire town. 

And then the his vision went black, as something akin to a burlap sack was thrown over him. The silence turned into screaming and chaos as the prince was knocked out and taken right from under the people’s noses.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!   
> Now Nishinoya and Suga come into the fray...  
> Again, I don't know how often I will update but I will try once a week. Woo!  
> Hope you enjoy this chapter~

The boy was clad in typical hunter garb. He donned a faded tunic that blended nicely with the fronds around him, and had a bow an arrow clasped in his hand. It was hunting season, after all, so it wasn’t too out of the ordinary for there to be a hunter in the midst of the woods. The thing that confused Nishinoya Yuu was… well… 

_SPLASH!_

“Oi, kid! Wake up!” Nishinoya commanded haughtily, holding the now empty bucket of water. He noted in the back of his mind that he just cost himself another trek to the pond. The boy below him spluttered, his short pixie-like brown hair now drenched with water. The poor kid looked like a shivering kitten, chocolate-colored eyes wide with shock. Nishinoya sighed, and reached his arm out to the boy. 

“Who are you? Or better yet, what _in the name of all that is sacred_ were you doing passed out in the middle of the woods like that? Don’t you know the woods are a dangerous place, especially for humans?” Nishinoya chittered out rapid-fire. It was apparent that the human sitting before him was quite fazed, trying to absorb what Nishinoya was spouting on about. It wasn’t everyday that you woke up, face to face with a creature that was most definitely _not_ human. 

The boy got up into a sitting position ignoring Nishinoya’s inviting hand, trying to wring the moisture from his short brown hair and gave up soon after. He turned his attention to Nishinoya again. “What are you?” came the blunt, yet curiosity-laced question. 

The openness of the question made Nishinoya scoff amusedly. “Y’know, most people usually ask ‘who are you?’ rather than ‘what’. Overlooking that, I believe _I_ asked first!” He puffed and placed his arms firmly on his hips, his own naivety making a debut. The boy flickered his eyes across Nishinoya’s rather smug face, quietly noticing the pointed ears and the rather sharp features that were somehow soft at the same time. It was unearthly and inhuman, but not uncommon. 

“You’re a tree elf.” The boy stated, leaving Nishinoya spluttering caught off-guard by the boy’s returning bluntness. 

Nishinoya regained his composure once more, and opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the boy standing up to his full height and dusting off his pants. At full height, the human was considerably taller than Nishinoya, which the elf was reluctantly getting accustomed to. The boy held out his hand to the elf, and said “My name is Michi. Thanks for waking me up, though I have to say the manner in which you did so was rather odd. Pretty unorthodox stuff.” 

The elf grinned and grabbed Michi’s hand with much gaiety. “I’m not really sure what ‘unorthodox’ means, but I’ll take that as a compliment, kid. The name’s Nishinoya Yuu, but you can call me ‘Noya’. Pleased to meet ya!” Now, most people (or elves) with a brain probably would have gleaned more information about another person before jumping face first into a relationship with said person. But Noya, being as exuberant as he was (only in character, not in materialistic worth), had no problem getting friendly with the boy. There was one thing though…

The elf shot Michi a smile again, before saying something that froze Michi in his tracks. “But, who are you _actually_?” 

“W-what do you mean?” Michi’s usual stoicness was marred by stuttering, a tinge of aggressive defensiveness seeping through. 

The sudden change in atmosphere did not go unnoticed by the elf. He raised up his arms in a sign of peace. “Woah, calm down there!” He flashed another smile at the boy, trying to lighten the mood. “You seem like a nice person, and you’re pretty sharp too. Now I may be short,” he seemed to grit out the last word all whilst maintaining his pleasant disposition, “but I’ve been on this Earth here for a good amount of time.” Michi looked warily at the elf, trying to anticipate what would come next. Noya continued, “and I know that you, my good friend, are _not_ a guy.” 

There was a moment of heavy silence, the human staring dumbstruck at the elf. Why was Michi staring at Noya? Was it something he said? The elf’s eyes widened, as he realized what he said could have potentially been rather narrow-minded of him (which he wasn’t at all, no, he was in fact a quite open-minded being). He quickly spluttered out, “I mean _biologically_ , at least. Unless you prefer-” he was cut off by the shrill laughter that came from the human. It sounded rather like bells tinkling. Nishinoya was pretty sure he was flustered if not before, his face probably as red as the sunset sky. “Uh…did I say something?” He questioned, completely flabbergasted. 

Michi gasped in between bouts of laughter. “No, it’s just… I didn’t expect you to say _that_!” She or he or they (Noya really didn’t know at this point) continued to laugh, causing Noya to flush some more.

“O-Oi, c’mon! What’s so funny?” He said almost whining. This human was unlike any he had met before, which was admittedly rather refreshing but vexing at the same time- he didn’t know what to think! Michi wiped some tears away, before replying. 

“You’re rather considerate, and it took me off guard is all.” She sent him a genuine smile, which (Noya wouldn’t admit aloud) warmed his heart. “You can call me Michi, for now. I’d appreciate if you kept my true gender a secret. If I lived in another world, maybe I would be taken seriously as a woman, but for now I’m only making do.” 

Noya blinked. “Making do?” 

She explained somewhat cryptically, “There are places I need to go and people I need to find.” 

This, of course, didn’t reveal a thing to Noya, but he simply laughed. It was so extraneous, the human who couldn’t have been older than sixteen already sounded like she bore the weight of the world of on his shoulders. Nishinoya wouldn’t be able to call himself an elf if he had left the human just like that, so instead he slung an arm around Michi and crowed: 

“Well, you’re in luck, friend because now you have Noya on your side!” 

~~~

_Drip!_

A drop of water found its way to his face. And then another. And then another. 

Iwaizumi groaned, and managed to push himself up into a sitting position. His back hurt more than the day he woke up to his younger sister practically jumping on his spine. He winced, but he couldn’t tell if it was from the physical pain or from the sharpness of the bittersweet memory. He shook the thought away in an attempt to clear his already-jumbled and disoriented mind. Wasn’t he supposed to be _dead_ right now?

His palms ached from leaning on the cold hard ground. It was some sort of cave, Iwaizumi could assume from the dankness and moisture that he could practically taste. As he turned around, his eyes involuntarily squinted at the light emanating from the entrance of the cave. Whoever, _whatever_ had taken him, was not there right now. 

A whimper behind him sends ice through his veins. He slowly, mechanically, tuned around only to see another human curled up in a ball, shivering. Iwaizumi’s eyes widened as he recognized the young man as the very being who had saved his life. 

_The prince_. Oikawa Tooru. 

The very person that was immortalized by his subjects had saved Iwaizumi. He was right in front of him right now. The very person that had defied the Iwaizumi’s Fates was so very _human_. Almost as if his body had acquired a mind of its own, Iwaizumi made his way over to the prince, and gently shook him. 

The prince wakes up with a start, his brown eyes wide with shock and discombobulation. After a few moments of heavy breathing, he falls back into tempo with his heart beats, inhaling and exhaling. 

Then the two make eye contact. 

_Unbearable, deafening silence_. 

And then Iwaizumi breaks it, with all the impact of taking a sledgehammer to a wall of glass. “Thank you.” He held out his hand, and gruffly introduced himself. “Iwaizumi Hajime.” 

Those were the first words that were conversed between the two. Those were the first words for a few days. It was as if a sort of silent agreement had transpired between the duo. After securing the immediate area, there was no one to be seen, much less their kidnappers. In fact, they just seemed to be surrounded by miles of luscious rainforest terrain. They were definitely on an island, but the question was: how would they get out of there? 

Iwaizumi and Oikawa instead busied themselves in other ways, rather than facing the imminent problem. They forsook the cave that they had come to in, and instead set up a camp of sorts near a small waterfall that they came across. The current wasn’t too harsh, and there was a pool that the water congregated in at the base of the fall which provided for their sustenance, thirst wise. 

One day, they find themselves sitting next to each other in wrapped in the blanket of the night sky. The only thing illuminating their vision is the fire in between them, surrounded by little rocks. The flames seemed to reach for the stars, the tendrils of red hot heat stretching out determinedly. The silence between them was something that they had become accustomed to in the past few days, not being pleasant nor awkward. It was just there. 

Iwaizumi angled his head upwards, and lowered himself on to his back, feeling the grass tickle at the sides of his cheeks. Without turning towards Oikawa, he asked him, “Why did you save me?” 

The prince jolted at being addressed by the other man. His eyes, unknown to Iwaizumi, began to soften. Why indeed, had he made one decision that if not completely brought his reputation crumbling down, had changed his life irrevocably? He was taken away from the clutches of the royal family, from the blessings of the royal family. He was taken away from very own family. All because he decided to save the man, the convict, the thief. Even so, Oikawa strangely felt _free_ for the first time in his life. He looked back at Iwaizumi, remembering the sense of familiarity he felt when he saw first saw him. 

And then it clicked. 

“I saw a part of myself in you.” he said softly, in almost a whisper. What he didn’t expect was to hear a sarcastic scoff from Iwaizumi. 

“That’s some poetic bullcrap. Although, I supposed I shouldn’t say that to the person who saved me.” he muttered. In one swift motion, he pushed himself up, and faced Oikawa, his eyes burning a hole in the prince’s very being. “I don’t know how you convinced yourself that I’m anything like you. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate you standing up for me and even shelling out eighty whole gold pieces. So, what I’m trying to say is,” he held out his hand to Oikawa for the second time since their meeting, “maybe get to know me before you declare things like that”. He donned the subtlest of grins, which left Oikawa somewhat awestruck. He responded by clasping Iwaizumi’s hand, tightly. 

Oikawa then cracked a mischievous smile of his own. “Well, there’s another reason too.” This caught Iwaizumi’s attention. “I’ve always wondered what it was like to have a personal slave, since you’re technically in debt to me right now by about eighty gold pieces”. Iwaizumi spluttered, causing Oikawa to full heartedly laugh. He continued to chuckle as he could’ve swore he heard Iwaizumi say something along the lines of _“What a prick”_. 

A comfortable silence fell between the two, caressing their battered souls. Oikawa glanced at the stars, remembering the _Three Comets of the Sun_ and fairy tale behind it. He idly made conversation with his companion. “Do you know of the story of the _Three Comets of the Sun_?” He takes shake of Iwaizumi’s head as a signal to continue. 

“Once upon a time,” Oikawa smirks at the phrase he has heard so many times in his life now being voiced by himself, “there was a nymph. The nymph wasn’t just any nymph. Let me put it this way- you never see nymphs in mythology, right? And when you do, they only ever have minor roles, being companions of gods and satyrs. The star of this story is a nymph, a _male_ nymph. He had a smile as bright as the sun, but alas- his existence was never appreciated. He was the only male nymph to exist, ostracized in a race that was already seen as lesser by other creatures. He had no one to go to, no family to seek comfort. 

“He didn’t lose hope. The little ray of sunshine he was, he decided to journey to the top of the tallest mountain on the horizon to find a family there. He traveled, and traveled. On the way, he met an old man who was nearly stumbling and dying of hunger. He gave the old man all his food happily, and asked _‘Do you know where to find a friend?’_ The man simply shook his head, and the nymph went on his way. He then met an old woman dying of thirst, and gave all his water to the woman happily. He asked _‘Do you know where to find a friend?’_. The woman simply shook her head, and the nymph went on his way again. 

“Finally, at the top of the mountain, he was tired and thirsty and hungry, but had no food or water with him to spare. On his dying breath, he saw the sun rising. He asked _‘Do you know where to find a friend?’_ It was said that even the sun shed a tear for him. The sun replied, _‘You already have a family’_. Before the nymph slipped into death’s infinite embrace, he saw two people that resembled the old man and woman, except they glowed as if they were the happiest they could be to see the nymph. It’s said that the spirits of the old man and woman took him up into the sky, where they lived together as a family. The _Three Comets of the Sun_ were a result of this, reminding the people that everyone had a friend, everyone had a _family_ , as long as you looked hard enough.” 

Oikawa finished his tale, the story that he had heard so many times in his childhood.

“You’re quite the poet, prince.” Iwaizumi remarked in a rather neutral tone.

Said prince growled in mock-annoyance. “Right, that’s rich. Like me.” He added at the end, shamelessly. Iwaizumi scoffed yet again. “I hope you paid attention to that tale I _painstakingly_ relayed to you. After all, it’s probably the most important day of the year.” 

“Oh really?” Oikawa could practically hear Iwaizumi rolling his eyes. 

“It was my birthday after all.” 

Iwaizumi deadpanned, “It was also the day I was wrongfully convicted.” 

The night sky was quiet again, save for the crackling of the fire. 

A few moments passed before Oikawa spoke again. “You really know how to kill a mood, don’t you?”

After not receiving a response, he sighed. “Well, tell me what happened then.” Oikawa wasn’t sure if he was expecting Iwazumi to reply or not. 

“It wasn’t anything special. My sister just reached over for something, for the life of me I can’t even remember what.” He chuckled rather bitterly, clearly remembering that day. “It was something so _insignificant_ , yet it changed so much. I mean, in the matter of a few days, I was put on death row, practically lost the last of my family, saved by a prince no less, and now I’m in God-knows-where with said prince. Just because someone cried _‘thief’_.” 

“ _Just because someone cried thief,_ ” Oikawa echoed. “That’s rather poetic in its own way too.” And with that, the tension flowed away like the water rushing down the waterfall. The two dozed off, sleep penetrating their minds like a drug. 

~~~

The sunlight nuzzled Oikawa’s face, waking him up. There was a warm softness on his back, and his breath hitched as he realized that somehow in the night, they had managed to sleep back to back. He quickly shot up, not used to the close proximity with anyone but his family members. The sudden movement consequently woke up a rather groggy Iwaizumi. He sat up, rubbing his eyes, grumbling to himself. It was rather endearing actually. Oikawa might have teased him about it, if it weren’t for the (thankfully, somewhat clothed) man who seemed to be bathing in the waterfall in front of them. 

In any other case, Oikawa would have been absolutely mortified to be in the situation he was now- but he couldn’t bring himself to be disgusted. The man in the waterfall seemed to be some kind of an _angel_. Ethereal silver hair adorned the top of his head, which somehow didn’t seem to be soaked from the waterfall at all. His face was graced with rosy cheeks and full eyelashes. He turned towards the now awake duo, and a gentle smile blossomed. Somewhere, a fairy was probably born from that smile. He padded out from the water, his drenched body dripping, but he didn’t seem to be shivering at all. In fact, his expression suggested otherwise. 

It was apparent that Iwaizumi noticed the angelic man now, from the way he scrambled up to stand, his mouth gaping rather pointedly. 

The other worldly creature in front of them (he surely wasn’t human...was he?) stopped. Then he introduced himself. 

“I’m Sugawara Koushi. And who are you?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!   
> *drumroll please*   
> Here is the next very-exciting installment of "A Very Haikyuu Tale"!   
> Hope ya enjoy :)

He lifted his hand up, and pointed at the liquor bottle approximately three meters from him. It was set on top of a decent sized crate that he had placed there. The expanse of grassy land around him simply seemed to sway peacefully with the wind. The sky was clear that day, no signs of disturbance at all. 

He uttered an incantation under his breath with no hesitation as if he had practiced the spell time and time before, and brought his hand down in one swift motion, closing his eyes shut. The wind gently whistled past his eyes, caressing his hair. 

When the young mage opened his eyes, the bottle was still there. Nothing had changed, absolutely _nothing_. 

Kageyama Tobio resisted the urge to kick the grass, which seemed to be dancing in laughter. Laughing at him, no doubt. What kind of a mage wasn’t able to use a simple relocation spell? It was elementary! He’d even seen young children do it before, once or twice. The black haired young man settled for sighing, clearly aggravated and unbalanced. 

He remembered reading about something like this in one of the books his late aunt had given him. Sometimes, when a young mage reached a certain age, they had… _moodswings_. Kageyama remembered how he practically gagged at the obvious, thinly-veiled reference to puberty, adolescence, or whatever it was. The book had said that it wasn’t uncommon for the mage to have a part of their mind blocked off from their magic. Magic was a very tricky element to control, as it required full balance between the mind and body. If a certain part of the mind was _blocked off_ , for lack of a better phrase, because of any emotional imbalances, the magic would in turn become rather unstable. This phase was typical in some adolescents, which is how Kageyama had brushed off his rather lacking magic skills before. 

But, he had surely passed that phase by now, right? That was why Kageyama continued practicing, practicing, and _practicing_ day after day. Alas, the mage’s already rudimentary skills showed very little improvement over the course of days, weeks, and finally months. 

The raven haired mage stalked back to his humble abode. It was a cozy hut, with a structure that seemed to intertwine with the nature around it. There was grass and flowers peeking out from the minute cracks in the wall. Ladybugs and hummingbirds sang around the generous garden that surrounded his hut. Kageyama reached the dainty wooden door, and was about to open it and turn in for the day. He was already been out for a considerable amount of time, and the fading streaks of blue turning into indigo and violet had been sign enough to turn in. 

His previous annoyance was wearing away into a blanket of tiredness that almost overcame him, until he heard a- 

_SNAP!_

He immediately stiffened. The intruding noise came from the part of his garden behind the hut. Kageyama silently and lithely moved around his house, his spine flush with the wall. His left hand reached into the pocket of his black pants, and grasped a small feathery substance. It was a homemade smoke bomb which he had learned to create (he needed a backup as a result of his erratic magic skills). 

As Kageyama neared the edge of his house, he caught a glimpse of orange. _Orange?_ He stepped out quietly from the side of the hut, unnoticed by the creature that had created the noise. The creature was human-like, but was most definitely _not_ human. There was something rather magical about him, as if he were one with nature. Kageyama felt like he was witnessing a ray of sunshine personified in front of him. 

That’s when he realized that the “ray of sunshine” was eating his carrots. Now Kageyama wasn’t a naturally amazing gardener, so when he saw the boy (no matter how Mother Nature-esque the boy was) eating what he had toiled over and shed his blood and tears for, he was _perfectly_ justified in throwing a shovel at said boy’s head. 

“Gwah!” came the rather comical response. The orange-haired sensation turned around, and immediately seemed to shrink within himself (or at least, he tried to) at the sight of Kageyama’s death glare. “I-I’m sorry! I was just hungry and this place smelled so good!” He stuttered out, trying to pacify the dark shadow that had come over Kageyama’s face. He continued to blabber on, backing away from Kageyama. “M-my name’s Hinata Shoyo, by the way! I’m a n-nymph, pleased to meet you! Do you want to be friends?” A naive, rather nervous smile adorned his face. 

Kageyama stopped approximately an inch away from the nymph. He could make out all of his features, from the blazing exuberant orange eyes to the almost-invisible freckles that danced across his nose. There were also his slightly pointed ears, though not as sharp as that of an elf. The nymph’s faded greenish brownish clothing seemed to be made from the forest itself. Most of all, he couldn’t look over the natural radiance that seemed to emanate from the being in front of him. 

Even so, that didn’t change the fact that the little nymph was going to _repent_ for Kageyama’s carrots. Hinata instinctually seemed to realize this, and tried to scramble away in the opposite direction. The nymph was fast, his agility spiking and making a debut. However, Kageyama’s arm, with months of practice, was faster. He pointed at Hinata, yelling an incantation aloud. It was the same one he had tried on the bottle beforehand, but this time an otherworldly electric blue light sparked from his hands and the nymph was thrown off his feet. 

Kageyama would’ve been floored too, if it weren’t his firmly rooted feet (he picked up this habit, learning from experience). This wasn’t the first time one of his spells have worked, but it was certainly the first time he evoked a reaction on this large of a scale. The electricity-like magic was still accumulating around his hand. He aimed it towards the nymph. If all went right, the nymph would only be transported around thirty meters north, which would be into the surrounding woods. No harm would befall him, basically. 

When he felt the unfamiliar tug in his gut, Kageyama knew something was going wrong. The sky darkened around them, shades of angry violet making itself known. The wind seemed to pick up, and the blue around his hands turned into a fiery red color. Kageyama was on the verge of panicking now. _What was happening?_

And then from the tendrils of red that surrounded his hand, two dragon-like forms had materialized. The fiery red-hot product of the spell wound itself around the nymph, who was shaking up a storm. The mage was mortified to find himself in the same situation as the orange-haired creature, as the other dragon-like form as wrapped around himself as well. He braced himself for the pain, expected to feel something akin to a red-hot iron on his skin. What he was met with was actually a sense of _coolness_. The magic felt like it was soothing his skin rather than irritating it. The nymph seemed to notice that too, a confused look on his face. And then a flash of light, as the two dragons burst into a display of fireworks. 

Both of their eyes were closed in that instant. When Kageyama opened his again, the sky was normal again. He felt the soothing sensation, except it was concentrated in one area this time: his wrist. He looked down at his skin, his eyes widening at what he met. It was a crescent moon, in a boisterous red color. His mind went blank for a moment. 

And then he scrambled over to the nymph who was staring in awe at his own wrist. The mage flicked out his hand ignoring how the creature tried to flinch away, and grabbed Hinata’s wrist. On the nymph’s wrist, inscribed in a beautiful navy blue color, was a sun, but there was a scooped out edge to the sun. Kageyama put his wrist next to Hinata’s, who was squirming now. The sun and the moon fit together perfectly like little puzzle pieces. Kageyama groaned, kneading his eyebrows in an attempt to sate the headache that he felt coming on from a mile away. 

“Um… Mr. Magician Sir?” The nymph timidly squeaked. Too drained to come up with a biting response, Kageyama just nodded. “What just happened?” 

Hinata was afraid that the mage didn’t hear him at first, since he got no response. He already had to muster up all his courage just to ask the scary black haired magic pyromaniac a question, no way was he going to as the same question _again_. 

The nymph got his answer, however. 

“We’re bonded now, you and I.”

A few seconds of silence passed before Hinata fainted right then and there, leaving a flustered Kageyama to his own devices. 

~~~

_“Noya, if you don’t get off of my back, I swear-” _, Michi seethed on the verge of one of his tangents. In an effort to avert the crisis, the little elf scrambled to oblige, but this only tangled them more in the net that they were currently in.__

__Yes, indeed, somehow Noya and Michi, nimble-footed as they were, had found themselves stuck in an honest-to-goodness trap. It was probably meant for some kind of animal, but they could not care less as their main concern was to now untangle themselves from the net that was barring them from freedom._ _

__“How did we manage to get ourselves in this situation?” Noya muttered, mostly to himself. However, to his dismay, Michi caught his self-servant words._ _

__“Oh, I don’t know,” he started quite satirically, “I was just following you, the _‘Master of the Forest’_. That was _my_ mistake I suppose?” A light flush was forming on Michi’s pale skin. “If you struggle anymore, this stupid branch is going to break from the movement!” He gestured to the tree branch that their net was hanging from. _ _

__Ever since that day that Noya had met the mystery-shrouded human that was Michi, they had gotten rather close. This was rather apparent by the way Michi did not hesitate to speak his mind to Noya. The two continued to bicker in the net, not noticing a figure below them, with a smile on their face. A deep chuckle emanated from the figure. It sounded like velvet in sound form, sort of a musical voice._ _

__This managed to catch their Michi’s attention, whose fist stopped midway in the process of finding its way to Noya’s spleen, much to Noya’s relief._ _

__“Is that Asahi?” Inquired the elf, still trying to struggle into a comfortable position. The duo was now back-to-back, concealing the elf’s view of whoever the stranger was. Asahi Azumane was a half-giant, half-dwarf, who also knew about Michi’s true gender. He was a gentle hearted soul with brown scraggly hair, and a huge body to match his huge heart. After Noya had introduced Michi to him, he somehow had the same uncanny ability as the elf to guess Michi’s secret. It was an odd feeling though, as Michi found himself to not mind the gentle giant or even the rather rambunctious elf. However, she _did_ mind the stranger grinning a knowing smile in front of them. _ _

__“No, it’s not Asahi.” The stranger answered Noya. “It’s Sawamura Daichi,” he curtseyed as he said this, causing Michi to sniff, “long time no see, Noya!”_ _

__The elf’s eyes widened, presumably from having recognized Daichi’s voice. Michi’s eyes widened too, as he realized what elf was going to do-_ _

___CRASH!_ _ _

__The net, along with the battered tree branch, came crashing down. Along with it came Michi’s tolerance levels. Michi considered impaling Noya with said tree branch for a moment or two, but Noya already recovered from the fall. While Michi nursed his aching body and bruising skin tenderly, Noya had jumped up like a slingshot (as if they had not just suffered from a five foot fall), his eyes bright towards Daichi._ _

__The man named Daichi hadn’t even flinched throughout the ordeal. Michi glanced at the tan-skinned man, with welcoming brown eyes and short, dark hair. He made a mental note to keep an eye on that one._ _

__“Fancy meeting you here!” Noya practically buzzed with excitement._ _

__“Yes, well, I’m afraid I must apologize for my trap you and your companion seem to have found yourselfs stuck in.” He replied, the friendly grin still vibrant on his face. Daichi held out a hand to Michi, who was still recuperating on the grassy floor. Michi regarded him for a moment before clasping on to it firmly, swiftly regaining his ground._ _

__Daichi bowed to Michi, a sign of utmost respect. This guy really knew how to sell it, didn’t he?_ _

__“I don’t believe I caught your name.” He said with that polite yet somehow smooth voice._ _

__“I don’t believe I stated my nam-” Michi was interrupted by a tart slap on the back from Noya._ _

__“Now, now! Play nice Michi!” He hummed, aggravating Michi to absolutely no end. “Michi here, is a thief by trade, kinda like you Daichi! I found the little gem passed out in the forest, like an idiot-” This was when Michi pinched his ear, “-ow, okay, okay! Jeez! Anyways, you two seem like you’ll get along.” Michi wasn’t sure if Noya was really naive or if Noya was just being Noya- or if it were both. Did he not notice the _really_ apparent lack of flow in their conversation? If it could even be _called_ a conversation! _ _

__Daichi wasn’t oblivious to this either. However, Daichi wasn’t deterred by it. “Another thief, huh?” He flashed them another smile. Michi just nodded slowly in response, not sure where the conversation was taking a turn to._ _

__Noya, in true Noya-fashion, interjected. “Michi only steals from the rich though! Never from the poor. She’s like that one fairy tale character, Ruben- er…”_ _

__“Robin Hood.” Daichi and Michi both said at the same time, their voices resonating through the forest._ _

__Noya grinned. Michi’s previous guarded and calculating glances turned more into a look of approval, which Daichi could sense._ _

__Daichi held out his hand to Michi for the second time that day._ _

__“Say, why don’t you and I form a partnership?”_ _


End file.
